Filing the 18-19 FAFSA

HEAG California, Community Colleges, Federal Student Aid Programs, Financial Aid Industry News, FL, MA, NY, PA

Early FAFSA

This is the 2nd year of earlier FAFSA filing, with the date being pushed back to October 1 and where students and parents use prior prior year income. For instance, while filing the 18-19 FAFSA, students and parents will use their 2016 income. Updates and enhancements include:

  1. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is back after being shelved last year due to a security breach and will enhance the privacy of applicant and parent IRS tax return information.
  2. The population of applicants and parents who are eligible to use the IRS DRT will expand. Amended tax return filers will be able to use the IRS DRT to transfer their IRS tax return information from their original tax return into the FAFSA form.
  3. References to the PIN have been removed from the Certification Statement on the PDF FAFSA form.

FSA IDs

The Department is encouraging students and parents to create FSA IDs as soon as possible, especially if they think the Social Security Administration might have incorrect information for them in its files. Students and parents should go to this link for information about the FSA ID and a link to create an FSA ID.

Resources for Financial Aid Offices to Share

Meanwhile, several resources have been developed for colleges to spread the word about these resources. Here are some links for financial aid offices to share with students and families.

Financial Aid Toolkit

FSA resource page.

FAFSA® and IRS VITA Tax Assistance Centers

The office of Federal Student Aid has partnered with the IRS to inform citizens of services available, including free help with tax filing through the VITA program.

FAFSA Outreach Website

In addition, there is a FAFSA outreach website that lists all the resources out there about the 2018-19 FAFSA.

Three Deadlines Students and Parents Need to be Award of:

  1. Institution Deadline – The first type of deadline comes from colleges themselves, and—spoiler alert—it’s typically pretty early. These deadlines vary from school to school, but they usually come well before the academic year starts. If you’re applying to multiple colleges, be sure to look up each school’s FAFSA deadline and apply by the earliest one. Many of these FAFSA due dates are priority deadlines. This means that you need to get your FAFSA form in by that date to be considered for the most money. Many colleges have this date clearly marked on their financial aid pages. If you can’t find it, you can always call the school’s financial aid office.
  2. State Deadline – The second deadline is determined by your home state. Some states have hard deadlines and other states have suggested deadlines to make sure you get priority consideration for college money. There’s also a group of states that offer first-come, first-served financial aid. Many of these states award financial aid funds only until they run out, so the sooner you apply, the better your chances.
  3. Federal Deadline – This deadline is June 30 every year or June 30, 2019 for 18-19.